Nona Hendryx

Nona Bernis Hendryx (born October 9, 1944) is an American vocalist who recorded and played live with Talking Heads in the early 80's. Hendryx rose to prominence through her collaboration with the group Labelle.

Early years: Patti Labelle and the Bluebells, Labelle

Hendryx would begin to perform with Patti Labelle and the Bluebells in the 60's. By the 70's, the nauture of the group had changed, and the act rebranded itself as simply "Labelle" The group, like many other disco acts of the era, allowed Black women to "take center stage." Hendryx described the transition as "Patti Labelle and the Bluebells were a girl group. Labelle was a girl band."

Theatre

For years Hendryx has been involved with the theatrical world, working on everything from writing music for individual productions to programming a monthly series at a theater.

2018 Vanguard Residency

In 2018, Hendryx became the inaugural recipient for "The Vanguard Residency," a grant award that was given to Hendryx to "sustain and lead their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers." This effectively saw Hendryx continuing to create theatrical works as well as taking on the role of programmer for Joe's Pub theater in New York City. According to the director of Joe's Pub, "As we developed the program, the name that kept coming up was Nona Hendryx. She is not only a vanguard artist who has changed the form and field of American pop culture but she is deeply connected to Joe's Pub and its larger community of artists."

In addition to her own works Hendryx created during this period, she also invited many other performers to the theater, who epitomized her "Fearless Manifesto" by being "antithetical to the 'normal, expected and accepted,' the status quo. The fearless are creatively restless, they push the boundaries, provoke, shock, endeavor to achieve a transcending effect, an awakening, evolving into some-thing new."

2020 production of Blue

Hendryx worked with writer-director Charles Randolph-Wright creating music for the play Blue. On April 21, 2000 the play would open at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. She described Randolph-Wright as having "unabated self-assurance" and "very wide taste." While the play was slated to be Hendryx's Broadway debut in April 2020, the run was first moved off-Broadway to the Apollo Theater before being cancelled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

2021 production of Trouble In Mind

Trouble In Mind was an off-Broadway play written by Alice Childress that opened on November 3, 1955. Years later, following Childress' death, the play would be revived om 2021 for Broadway and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright. This revival would include original music written by Hendryx, who said that "I wish Alice Childress was here. She was a spectacular human. [...] And now, Alice, it is where you wanted it to be and in the hands of Charles Randolph-Wright, who appreciated your work. He did not change a word and wanted to be true to your script. And I wrote music to support that truth." This 2021 production would be Hendryx's Broadway Debut.